Missouri - Governor-elect Eric Greitens launched his transition website, govelect.mo.gov this morning and encouraged Missourians with a desire to serve their state to apply.
"What we have earned is something sacred: the privilege to serve,” Governor-elect Eric Greitens said. “We are looking for the best and the brightest to join our mission to create more jobs, higher pay, safer streets, and better schools for Missouri."
Governor-elect Eric Greitens has selected his former Campaign Manager and current Senior Advisor, Austin Chambers, to oversee the transition. Additional members of the transition team will be announced in the coming days.
Those interested in serving Missouri should submit their resume, cover letter, and contact information through the website.
Congressman Jason Smith Capitol Report
Stopping a Lame Duck President
November 18, 2016
The elections are over and we now know that Donald J Trump will become the 45th President of the United States. One of the key factors to his victory was a promise to stop the onslaught of Washington driven regulations and executive orders coming from the Obama White House which have crippled American farmers, families and business owners. However, with just under 62 days left in office, the Obama Administration is attempting to rush and complete high-cost, politically-driven regulations written by Washington bureaucrats bent on cementing this President’s legacy as one of the most liberal anti-business Administrations in our country’s history.
In a final attempt to implement his out of touch agenda, the exact thing the American people overwhelmingly rejected just last week, President Obama is attempting to use what are called “Midnight Rules” to usher through last minute federal regulations. During the final months of a presidential administration, the outgoing administration can achieve certain policy goals by practicing “midnight rulemaking” to create cumbersome and costly regulations that often go unchallenged by Congress. We expect over 50 potential midnight regulations could be rushed out, EACH of which could have an impact on the economy exceeding $100 million. But Congress has a message for the Obama Administration; NOT SO FAST Mr. President.
Since President Obama took office, nearly 3,000 new regulations have been finalized, costing more than $850 billion. Under the Obama Administration, the number of pages in the Code of Federal Regulations has grown to a whopping 175,268, resulting in 563 million hours of paperwork. In fact, during Obama’s first five years in office alone, federal agencies added 17,522 pages of regulations, averaging a staggering 3,504 per year. The worst part of this is how much these regulations are costing hardworking Americans across the country. On average, federal regulations under the Obama Administration cost $15,000 per American household every year.
Americans simply cannot afford anymore regulations – they are suffocating our economy. That is why I was proud to support legislation this week that will stop the Obama Administration from continuing to harm hardworking Americans. The Midnight Rules Relief Act, passed by the House of Representatives will prohibit the use of midnight rules, stopping President Obama’s last ditch efforts to fulfill floundering campaign promises. This bill amends the Congressional Review Act which has been in place since 1996, to allow Congress to disapprove multiple rules with one vote as opposed to only one rule at a time. The Congressional Review Act gives Congress 60 legislative days to review and override major regulations enacted by federal agencies of the outgoing administration. This act was passed 20 years ago and was used successfully by the Bush Administration in 2001 to dismantle the lame duck Clinton Administration from implementing the ergonomics rule proposed under Clinton’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) that was projected to cost upwards of $123 billion per year. The Midnight Rules Relief Act will strengthen the Congressional Review Act and is an important tool at our disposal to continue to dismantle the Obama regulatory machine.
This is the type of regulation reform that America deserves and is what’s needed to help pave the way for President-Elect Trump who has pledged to do what is necessary in order to unleash American potential. Hardworking Missourians have grown fed up with out of control government bureaucracy and red tape. Farmers and business owners are now spending more time complying with regulations written by a bureaucrat who has never set foot on a farm or signed the front of a paycheck than tending to their land, growing their business or hiring American workers. When I met with Vice President-Elect Mike Pence this week, the top of his list was how the new administration is going to work to find real solutions to the most important issues facing hardworking Americans. The Obama Administration's top-down, big-government, Washington-knows-best approach to government over the past 8 years is finally coming to an end. I look forward to working with the incoming Trump Administration to put our country back on track by delivering meaningful solutions that actually address the real problems Americans are facing.
Honoring Our Nation’s Heroes
As citizens from all walks of life turned out to cast their votes and make their voices heard on Election Day, it was an important reminder of the freedoms that have been fought for and defended throughout the centuries by the many brave men and women who have rightfully earned the title of hero.
It’s on Veterans Day that that we pause as a nation to honor those who have put their love of country above all else. It’s a time to thank those who have risked life and limb to ensure Americans can vote on Election Day. It’s a time to salute those who have fought to protect us from the scourge of tyranny and injustice. It has been said many times before, but it must be said again on Veterans Day; we owe these brave souls a debt of gratitude that can never be fully repaid. That is why it’s imperative that our gratitude and respect for their service be sincere and abundant.
However, even with the commitment so many of us make to honor their heroism, many of our veterans continue to live without any sort of recognition of their selfless service. Think about these numbers for a moment. Each night here in this country there are more than 50,000 homeless veterans sleeping wherever they can find shelter. In fact, veterans make up more than 55 percent of the homeless individuals on our streets. Consider too that the suicide rate among those who have served is 50 percent higher than those who have not. And even here in Missouri, where we make a concerted effort to do all we can for our veterans, we still see approximately 2,000 veterans on a waiting list to receive care at one of our seven veterans homes.
The good news is that Missouri is a state that is willing to do all it can to help the more than 490,000 who call our state home. Our economy is boosted by the nearly 50,000 veteran-owned businesses within our borders. Our efforts to invest in our veterans through job training and new educational opportunities saw more than 14,000 veterans go back to school and receive more than $55 million in assistance in 2014. Missouri has also worked to help veterans overcome substance abuse problems by creating Veterans Treatment Courts. And thanks to these efforts, not only have thousands received the training they need to get better, higher-paying jobs, but we’ve also seen the suicide rate among veterans in our state drop by 37 percent over the last few years.
These are all positive signs and reasons we should take pride in our state and the way we acknowledge and treat our veterans. But there is always more we can and should do. That can be as simple as expressing your gratitude by saying thank you to someone you know who has served, or as involved as donating your time or money to charitable causes that work with our veterans. And for the legislature, it means continuing to find policy solutions for the issues faced by our veterans.
On Veterans Day I ask that we all make the promise to treat our veterans with the respect they have earned. And let us vow to do that not just on one day each year, but on each and every day. Their extraordinary accomplishments have created an extraordinary debt that we must consistently work to repay. Their sacrifices have given us the nation we love, and their commitment to service has protected the freedoms we all hold so dear. For this and for all they have done, we must always be grateful.
We Honor Your Service, Your Sacrifice
Throughout our country's history our veterans and the patriots before them answered the call of duty and have valiantly fought to make America a place where personal liberties are celebrated and the rights bestowed to us upon the Constitution are forever protected and preserved. Veterans Day is our chance to express gratitude for the service and sacrifice of our brave men and women in uniform who thanklessly gave their time and often lives to protect a truly free nation.
This week I visited several schools in southern Missouri that held ceremonies in honor of Veterans Day including Bourbon High School, Sikeston High School and Senath High School. It was wonderful to see a current generation of young people honoring the veterans that have served so they can continue to enjoy the same protections, rights and freedoms of those who came before. I encouraged all of the young Missouri students I visited this week to continue to honor our nation’s heroes not just once a year on Veterans Day, but challenged them to find an opportunity throughout the year to give back to their communities and say thank you to the brave men and women who serve our country.
This Veterans Day we also need to remember and recognize the special acts of those in our communities who demonstrated bravery, exemplified service, and made us all proud, those like Tom Surdyke who tragically lost his life in June saving the life of another. I had the honor of nominating Tom to West Point in 2015 and sharing in his family’s celebration the day he earned his Eagle Scout. While on vacation on June 24th, 2016, Tom and another swimmer he’d just met on shore were caught in a riptide. Tom instinctively went to save the other young man, sacrificing his own life. He was buried at West Point on July 4th, 2016 on his 19th birthday and was given the Soldier’s Medal, the Army’s highest non-combat valor award for saving the life of another. In June, I was lucky enough to honor another American hero, the now late Veteran Raymond Burbach, by presenting him with seven awards and accolades he earned during his service in the Korean War that were 60 years past due. Both Tom and Raymond will always be remembered as American heroes. Their dedication to a life of service and the instinct to put others first is what distinguishes our veteran patriots and heroes.
There is much we can do to honor our veterans not just on Veterans Day, but every day of the year by helping them transition successfully back to civilian life. Things like ensuring that veterans have access to adequate health care, including mental health, educational opportunities and good paying jobs when they return home.
For instance, when I heard from numerous veterans across southeast and south central Missouri that they wanted to see expanded care, service hours and options at VA facilities in Salem, I was proud to help by meeting with VA officials and securing additional hours and operations for the facility. Earlier this year, I was also able to play a role in supporting legislation which provided $176.9 billion in funding for the VA, including $52.8 billion in funding for VA medical services, which included mental health services, suicide prevention activities, long-term care services, funding for rural health initiatives and support services for caregivers of veterans and initiatives to fight homelessness among veterans and their families. This effort was an important reminder that our thanks shouldn’t just be for their active service, but in helping them transition.
There are over 55,000 veterans living in the 8th Congressional District of Missouri alone who deserve our gratitude for their service to our nation. There is much work still to be done to improve the lives of our veterans when they return home - let us make that our duty, our service, and our commitment to all of them, they deserve it.
Make Your Voice Heard at the Ballot Box on Nov. 8
The voter registration deadline has passed and the people of Missouri are set to help determine the future of the state and the nation on November 8. It’s now up to all the registered voters to make their voices heard at the ballot box. They will need to turn out not only to decide who will lead the country, but also to determine races for statewide offices, state representative, and for a range of ballot issues that can make significant changes to the way the state operates. Without question, this is an extremely important election, and if Missourians are going to make this country’s representative democracy work as the founding fathers intended, it’s imperative that everyone take advantage of the fundamental right that is voting.
The good news is that voter participation rates are typically high during presidential elections. As an example, the 2012 general election saw approximately 2.8 million of the 4.2 million registered voters cast a ballot for a participation rate of almost 66 percent. The number was even higher for the 2008 general, which saw a participation rate of more than 69 percent. When both numbers are compared to the 35 percent participation rate for the 2014 general election, it is clear that voters are motivated to turn out during presidential elections.
Now it is imperative that voters take the time to learn the candidates and the issues so they can make informed votes. As Thomas Jefferson once said, “Whenever the people are well-informed, they can be trusted with their own government.” November 8 is an opportunity for Missourians to cast their votes to help determine the direction the state and the nation will take over the next four years.
Dyslexia Task Force Holds First Hearing
The legislature’s Task Force on Dyslexia recently held its first hearing in the State Capitol. The group, which is made up of lawmakers, medical and education officials, and private individuals with expertise or experience with dyslexia, was created with the passage of HB 2379 during the 2016 regular session.
The group is working to make recommendations to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education in three key areas: how and when students should be screened for dyslexia; how students with reading issues can be helped in classrooms; and what professional development should be implemented to train faculty in screenings. The department will then take the task force’s recommendations and use them to develop their guidelines, which have to be completed by December 31, 2017.
One of the members of the task force talked about the experiences her niece went through as a student with dyslexia. The state representative noted that her niece was frustrated as she felt like she was doing something wrong even though she was working hard. The task force member hopes that with early screening, students like her niece could be identified and helped to obtain the support they need to achieve their academic potential.
The task force is required to report to the governor and the legislature’s Joint Committee on Education by October 18, 2017. The chair of the task force said the group could make recommendations ahead of the deadline so that the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education would have more time to consider them.
Once screenings in schools begin, the parents of students who are found to have indicators of dyslexia will be notified, so that they can choose whether to follow-up with more testing by medical professionals.
The task force plans to hold its next hearing at the end of November.
Improving Missouri’s System of Foster Care (HB 1877)
A piece of legislation that went into effect as law in August now gives courts more to think about before putting a youth back into the state’s foster care system, and gives foster parents more say in their foster children’s extracurricular activities.
The legislature approved House Bill 1877 during the 2016 regular session and the governor signed the bill into law. One of its provisions specifies what a court must weigh when considering a petition for a youth to reenter the foster care system. The goal is for a court to look at whether the individual had been behaving properly in the system before leaving it. The sponsor of the legislation said the bill is meant to address an issue where juvenile offenders are sometimes put back into the foster care system even if it’s not the proper place for them.
The new law also requires a court and other parties in a child’s case to defer to the foster parent in decisions regarding participation in extracurricular and other activities, such as school field trips. The bill is meant to give some clarity to the confusion that sometimes exists in regard to who has the right to give permission to the young person.
HB 1877 also included provisions dealing with when people should be placed on the state’s child abuse and neglect registry; identifying and responding to abuse and neglect of children three years old and younger; and the creation of a task force on the prevention of infant abuse and neglect.
Governor Nixon Releases More Budget Dollars
Just a few weeks ago Governor Nixon released approximately $12 million of the more than $174 million in funds he had restricted. This week he released another $8.7 million in funds in reaction to a settlement with Volkswagen. The dollars obtained through the multi-state consumer protection settlement allowed the governor to release additional funds for school transportation, disaster response, and agricultural producers. Specifically, the governor’s decision provides $4.5 million for school transportation. It also releases $3 million for a previously deferred biodiesel subsidies transfer. Additionally, $1.2 million in funding will go to the State Emergency Management Agency for Missouri Task Force 1 to support disaster response. Even with the latest release of dollars, the governor continues to withhold more than $150 million from the current state operating budget.
Services Offered by the Representative
Requesting a Courtesy Resolution
Courtesy resolutions can be requested for many reasons including, but not limited to, an Anniversary, Birth, Eagle Scout Award, Marriage, Birthday, Business Opening, Special Award, Retirement, or Sports. Please do not hesitate to contact my office should you like to request a Courtesy Resolution. If you would like to have me personally present the Courtesy Resolution, please call my office and my assistant will be happy to work with you to schedule for this. My office number is 573/751-1494.
Scheduling a Visit with Me Back in the District
I always enjoy visiting with my constituents in the 151st District. Some of my favorite groups are school aged children but I also enjoy meeting with every age group! If you would like to schedule a visit with me, please call my office at 573/751-1494, my assistant will be happy to work with you to arrange a time for us to visit. Visits can include reading and talking with school children, visiting retirement centers, visiting non-profit groups, businesses, coffee talks, and more.
Visiting the Jefferson City and the Capitol
Even though we are out of session from June to December, any time of the year is a great time to visit the Capitol. The building is a beautiful place to visit and my assistant will be happy to arrange a tour for you while you are in Jefferson City. There are many interesting places to visit during your visit to our state Capitol. A great way to get to Jefferson City is via Amtrak if driving is not possible or challenging. Visitors can tour the Missouri Supreme Court, Old Missouri State Penitentiary, the Missouri Military History Museum, the Missouri State Highway Patrol Museum, and more.
Missouri and United States Flags
If you know of a school, retirement center, non-profit group, or someone else that is in need of a flag, please contact my office at 573/751-1494 and we will arrange to have a new flag sent or delivered to them.
Scheduling Class or Large Group Visits at the Capitol
If your school is planning on traveling to the Capitol between January and May, contact my Capitol office as soon as you know a date to set up the tour, things become busy very quickly during the session. Tours of the Governor's Mansion and Capitol fill up rapidly with schools from all over Missouri, so, the sooner, the better. It is best to set up your school visits or large group visits at least 6 months out if possible. If this is not possible, contact my office and we will try very hard to see what we can arrange for you, rest assured, not all will be lost though, there are plenty of self-guided tours and other sites to visit. If you are planning a visit during the Interim Period, June through December, please call my office, if I am in Jefferson City during your visit, I would enjoy scheduling a visit with you and showing you the Capitol!
Service Member and Veterans Services
Enough cannot be said of the sacrifices our brave men and women of the Armed Forces make for our freedoms every day, both at home and abroad. The Missouri Veterans Commission has put together a guide for Missouri resources for military service members and their families with contacts for local VA Hospitals and Centers, the American Legion, the VFW, the other resources for our veterans. To request one, please contact my office at 573/751-1494 and we will be more than happy to provide you with a copy of this helpful guide.
